The Past (Asghar Farhadi)

[Stay Puft]

THE PAST
Dir. Asghar Farhadi

IMDb page

[Stay Puft]

More great stuff from Farhadi.

I love how his plots endlessly twist and turn, pulling characters in different directions, constantly changing the landscape of emotions and perspectives. And despite the revelations that are inevitably unearthed, it never feels like we get any closer to the truth. The characters are hopelessly entangled in a web of their own design and there's no getting back out. And it's to Farhadi's credit that he examines this web of relationships with so much care, detail and understanding. His cinema is so wonderfully empathic, nonjudgmental.

Refreshing, too, as I've been in a cinematic slump for the last few months (I can't even remember the last time I gave a film more than three stars). I eagerly anticipate whatever Farhadi does next.

[wigwam]

:|

[Grouchy]

More great stuff from Farhadi.

I love how his plots endlessly twist and turn, pulling characters in different directions, constantly changing the landscape of emotions and perspectives. And despite the revelations that are inevitably unearthed, it never feels like we get any closer to the truth. The characters are hopelessly entangled in a web of their own design and there's no getting back out. And it's to Farhadi's credit that he examines this web of relationships with so much care, detail and understanding. His cinema is so wonderfully empathic, nonjudgmental.

Refreshing, too, as I've been in a cinematic slump for the last few months (I can't even remember the last time I gave a film more than three stars). I eagerly anticipate whatever Farhadi does next.

Ditto this. I thought I'd already voted for this wonderful film.

[max314]

[The Past is] Refreshing, too, as I've been in a cinematic slump for the last few months...

I had the exact same experience with A Separation.

Just as I was beginning to fear that I was getting bored of movies, Farhadi came along and dumped a bucket of cold water over me.

Exhilarating filmmaking.

Now I'm waiting for the perfect time to put The Past into my Blu-Ray player.

EDIT:

Saw the film a couple nights ago.

Farhadi picks at the scabs of the past as though they are poisonous bites that needs to be bled and drained of their venom before we can move on. The process is painful, it is messy – but Farhadi insists that it is absolutely necessary.

★★★★★

[dreamdead]

This is the kind of good film that labors under a plot-heavy construction. The precision of Farhadi's A Separation falls aside as issues from the past keep bubbling up until the final minutes, denying concision and depth in favor of more trauma. At times it works, but narrative asides like the secondary worker at the dry cleaner disrupt, rather than bring into clarity, a national and personal juxtaposition that isn't dealt with enough to justify not being excised.

And this isn't to suggest that concision is preferable to messiness all the time--but here there's so many layers that it stretches the credibility of the emotions at work and undermines the fine cast and direction elsewhere. Good, but a clear step down due to the juggling narrative threads.